THREE crews from Evesham represented the Midlands Region at the National Junior Regional Champion-ships in Nottingham.

Conditions were fairly typical for the venue, with high winds and choppy waters making fast times difficult.

The Evesham crews turned this to their advantage with their excellent technique.

Emma Woodedd and Cherry Gayton came first in the J15 double, confirming their position as the fastest girls double in the country for their age group.

The women's J14 Quad of Chloe Farrar, Emma Purfield, Anna Chilvers, Rebecca Wood and cox Lucy Bunn put in an excellent performance to come third.

The J15 boys double scull of Ali Gregory and Tom Most were well placed to get into the final when tragedy struck.

As they pushed for the lead in the semi-final, one of Gregory's oars snapped, leaving Most to pull the boat home alone.

They still qualified for the B final, however, and demonstrated their form by winning in a time 15 seconds faster than the winning A final time.

Evesham sculler Andrew Walker travelled to Germany to earn his Great Britain colours at the Munich Junior International Regatta.

This event is used by the selectors as an early guide to form, providing a benchmark of performance against the best crews in Europe.

Walker doubled with Tom Wilkinson of Henley College and took the lead from the start in their opening race. However, they were unable to keep the pace over the full 2000m coming in a disappointing third.

The next day they teamed up with Zac Purchase (Kings Worcester) and Dan Tipney (Marlow) for the fiercely competitive J18 heavyweight quads.

Spurred on by their disappointment of the previous day, they made a phenomenal start, taking a lead of 1 lengths over the rest of the field in the first 500m

Building over the rest of the course, they qualified for the final in impressive style four lengths clear with the third fastest time overall

All six crews set off at a cracking pace, with the GB crew settling into third place after 500m. Over the next 500 they gradually inched forward, and had overpowered the Danes by halfway.

The Germans held a lead of about a length throughout the third quarter and looked to be resisting all challenges. But, in a storming finish, the British crew powered through to take gold in an event that the Germans regard as their own.

With two golds and two bronzes, the GB squad achieved the best result in this event for several years, which bodes well for the coming season, culminating in Athens in August.

Jane McIntosh and Debbie Turner, the only crew representing Evesham at Shrewsbury Regatta, won the women's Senior IV double sculls over the 1000m course last Saturday.